


somewhere in the middle

by RippingOffZeppelin



Series: some serious damage [1]
Category: Fast and the Furious Series, The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Genre: Fate of the Furious Timeline, Hobbs POV, M/M, ain't no time for a slow burn gotta wrap this shit up in under 5000 words, enemies to friends to lovers (sort of) (speedrun)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:42:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21582466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RippingOffZeppelin/pseuds/RippingOffZeppelin
Summary: Luke waits for the other shoe to drop.
Relationships: Luke Hobbs/Deckard Shaw
Series: some serious damage [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1560127
Comments: 6
Kudos: 141





	somewhere in the middle

**Author's Note:**

> (some dialogue lifted directly from fate of the furious)
> 
> title: “nothing is ever only good and nothing is ever only bad. Everything is somewhere in the middle.” ― Will Hill, After the Fire

Luke’s been in this business long enough to know there’s no such thing as black and white. Everything’s grey, everything’s messy; there’s always a reason, a motive, an excuse. It doesn’t always mean much and it doesn’t always help but he knows there’s more to every situation, every person, then what they present. 

Doesn’t mean he likes Shaw. Certainly doesn’t mean he trusts him, not after everything; but he concedes that he doesn’t have the whole picture, yet. 

-

Turns out Mr. Nobody trusts him enough to bring him in to help them stop Cipher, to get Dom back. It gets Luke's back up, tension coiled along the base of his spine, but it speaks to how shaken they all are that there's only a few moments of protest at the idea before the team are backing down. Still he can't help the uneasiness of sharing a space with Shaw, his body hums, ready for a fight he's still not sure isn't coming.

He does finally relax when he gets a reason. Luke knows Shaw isn’t doing this out of the goodness of his heart, wouldn’t buy that he was even if he tried to bullshit it- though Shaw’s a lot of things but so far _liar_ doesn’t seem to be one of them- so when he says

“I’m not here to play happy family, I don’t care about you or your friends, I’m here for Cipher” 

Luke believes him. It’s something about the rigid set to his shoulders or the connection Cipher has to his brother, if there’s someone that Shaw would fight tooth and nail for it’s Owen. So Luke takes a breath and decides to take the help at face value, he knows first hand how hard of an opponent Shaw is, how smart, how deadly. Having him on their side feels like the scales weighing a little bit more in their favour; but still, doesn’t mean he trusts him.

“I’ll be watching you” he warns “You step one toe out of line and I will cut it off” Shaw smirks, raising an eyebrow like he’s daring him to actually do something. Luke grinds his teeth and wonders if anyone would stop him if he tried.

-

Luke’s barely taken his eyes off of Shaw, every time he so much as shifts Luke’s hand inches towards the gun at his hip. 

He's helpful is the thing, he sticks to the sides of the room pacing quietly, shifting so his back is to the wall and when he speaks up it's to push them forward. It's _annoying_ is the thing, and Luke knows he's being petty but part of him actually wants some trouble from Shaw, something to shove him further into the box Luke's put him in, something a little less than what he's getting.

Watching Shaw means that he doesn’t miss the anger that flashes across his face when Cipher’s picture comes up on screen, the way his posture straightens. Everything about him screams 'threat detected' and Luke knows that kind of anger, has felt it himself, has seen it in Dom- it’s ends of the earth anger. It’s vengeance. Huh.

-

“So we use God's Eye to find Cipher then we go in and grab Dom” Roman says leaning back on his chair so the front two legs are off the ground “No sweat”

Shaw’s eye twitches, fingers flexing where his arms are crossed over his chest; Luke watches him actively calm himself down and buzzes with something like anticipation, interest.

“That’s not going to work” he says, Roman flicks an eyebrow up at him

“Why not? Worked when we were looking for you”

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with” he says through his teeth, posture still rigid and Luke decides he wants to see how much he can get out of Shaw without having to ask. So he pokes the bear

“And you do?” he asks, internally fist pumping when Shaw’s glare snaps to him

“I know Cipher, my brother worked for her, it didn’t end well” he grits out “You don’t mess with her if you can help it”

“Oh good so we’re trusting you on this because little brother got double crossed by his cyberterrorist ex girl” Shaw’s jaw clenches, mouth thinning out. There it is.

“You think because some guys in suits told you a couple ghost stories that you really know how dangerous she is? what she’s capable of?” he asks, voice sharp, crossing the room to get in Luke’s space

“Or are you forgetting she managed to turn Toretto against all of you? Can’t say I really know the guy but if anyone was ever really ready to die for their family it’d be him” Luke catches Letty’s wince in his periphery before she turns away from them and back to the screens, he narrows his eyes at Shaw but he barely seems to notice

“What do you think she did to make him like this?” Shaw continues gesturing at the screen, Dom's face staring out at them “Yeah my brother worked for her, what do you think she did to him?” 

The questions linger in the newly formed silence, the last one making Luke almost feel bad for pushing, in a way he never does, especially not with Shaw.

"He's right" Ramsey says, Luke turns to look at her in surprise but her expression mirrors Shaw's tight features, an undercurrent of understanding on her face. Adding another thing for Luke to wonder about.

“Cipher is like a digital act of God. She can manipulate world systems from the shadows; governments, global markets. Anything that can be hacked is hers to play with" she sucks in a breath "She's more dangerous than anyone you've dealt with, Dom is- Dom's proof I guess"

“So we have to be smart about this” Letty says turning back to them “Figure out where they are, what they’re doing and we plan before we jump”

She directs the last part at Shaw, raising an eyebrow and he gives her a sharp nod in return, moving back to the corners of the room. Mr. Nobody sighs

“There’s just one problem with God’s Eye” 

-

The room explodes and everything goes sideways. He’s thrown against the wall by the force of the blast and he can’t hear anything over the ringing in his ears, he blinks through the dust to take stock of everyone. Letty and Tej are on the ground across the room, the wall between him and them blown open, he tries to move closer but before he can two more charges are thrown in, he manages to catch one and throws it off into an empty space, wincing as it blows, debris spraying over him. 

He’s close enough to see Shaw through the rubble diving towards the other explosive, kicking it away and protecting Ramsey with his body, he goes down hard and Luke loses sight of him as his vision blurs. The ringing gets worse and he can only just make out Cipher talking as he slumps down onto the floor; _concussion grenade_ she says, Luke’s stomach turns. 

They’re gone in minutes, for all the damage they've caused, leaving the rest of them gasping in the wreck they left behind. Luke tries his hardest to steady his breathing, face pressed to the cool metal of the ground and surprises himself by wondering if Shaw's ok.

-

In the aftermath of Dom and Cipher, once the effects of the grenades have dulled enough to stay upright and they’ve all taken a moment to regroup he pauses to think about all of it.

How Shaw pushed Ramsey out of the way, how it was fluid, instinct. They had to pull a goddamn metal door off his legs. About what he could make out of Cipher talking to Shaw, how she said he picked the losing team, how it was nice to see him again. The look on Shaw’s face in the briefing room. He feels more and more like he has none of the details, it’s less like there’s more to Shaw than what he knows and more like he’s got all the wrong information. There’s too many threads that lead nowhere, too much conflicting data, it leaves him feeling wrong footed, two steps behind, he hates that feeling. So he does what he does best in these kinds of situations and goes looking for answers.

-

The first shoe drops with the papers he pulls, buried deep in Mr. Nobody’s intelligence, information you can’t get unless you’re looking for it and he was looking for whatever they had on Deckard Shaw. 

_Captain_ Deckard Shaw comes as a relative surprise, _Captain_ Deckard Shaw recommended for the _Victoria Cross_ for acts of _Gallantry_ \- now that’s the shocker. And the thing is Luke’s not stupid, he knows there’s something off about the whole thing, something about how none of this information is in his public records, something about how much of it is blacked out, encrypted- erased. Pages of information he still can’t get to. For once it's like the more he learns the less he’s able to put the picture together.

-

He finds Shaw on the chop floor, elbows deep in the hood of his car and he takes a moment to watch him work before stepping forward

“Captain Deckard Shaw-” Luke sees the line of Shaw's shoulders tense at the words but he doesn’t look up 

“-Distinguished himself by acts of gallantry at the risk of his life, above and beyond the call of duty his bold actions saved the lives of hostages and his teammates. Recommendation- Victoria Cross” he dutifully reads off of the papers he printed out, although he honestly doesn’t need them, he memorised the whole letter. 

“Highest honour the British Government has ever given,” and with that Shaw finally looks up at him. Luke holds the eye contact, searching for something just a little outside his reach, something that exists in the in-between of the words in Shaw’s file “To a traitor” he watches that sting. Shaw’s face hardening, eyebrows pulling in. Interesting. 

“Something about this whole thing just doesn’t add up to me” he admits, laying his cards on the table, he wants to know. He wonders if Shaw would actually tell him if he asked.

“Well that’d be the same kinda funny math that says a DSS agent who has a silver star for valour stole an EMP” he throws back, and Luke internally reels just a little at the information Shaw seems to know and is able to recount about him 

“Before being thrown in jail with a _traitor_ ” he says the word with a sharp edge and yeah Luke _really_ wants to ask about that “Sound familiar?” 

And it does; the words feel like a nudge, like he just gave Luke something like an answer to all the questions he’s not asking but he just has to untangle all of it first. There's something about it that feels like he can see himself in this version of Shaw, Captain Deckard Shaw. Traitor. Hero. 

He drops the papers onto the work bench, feeling even more unsure than when he first walked over here, Shaw watches him for a moment before turning back to the car

“Sometimes we make decisions for the right reasons and the world decides they’re the wrong ones” he says “But I know who I am Hobbs; and that’s how I live with myself” he shuts the hood, wiping his hands on the oil rag tucked in his jacket and Luke doesn’t really have a response to that beyond personal understanding, it must show on his face, because the energy shifts and Shaw looks back at him with something almost playful dancing in his eyes

“You know twinkle toes in another life I think me and you coulda done some serious damage” Luke huffs a laugh at that, surprised by how clearly he can imagine it 

“Yeah we coulda”

“Shame I’m gonna haveta bounce your head off the fender when this is all over”

Luke smirks, his responding threat is purposefully outlandish, somehow a real one feels wrong in this open space between them, even Shaw’s one felt soft around the edges. So he stretches it enough that it’s almost a joke, the laugh he gets in return is worth it. Shaw’s laugh changes his whole face, makes him look younger, lighter. 

The whole thing almost feels like an olive branch, like they’ve managed to forge a tentative understanding, some kind of peace treaty and he weirdly finds himself almost happy with that development.

-

T-minus 6 minutes till they’re set to head out and Luke’s getting everyone together. Letty’s already in her car, foot twitching above the gas, he figures if they hadn’t agreed that they’d all go in as a unit she’d already be off. He keeps catching himself forgetting how much harder this must be for her. She’d kick his ass if he said anything though, so he settles for a quick equipment check in and hopes the double checks she does is enough to distract her for a moment.

The last person to track down is Shaw. It only takes him a minute to find him in the board room sitting at the long table staring at Cipher’s file. Her photo a blurry black and white capture from a street cam pinned on top of a mountain of paper.

“She’s really under your skin huh?” he asks, gently this time, he’s not trying to push anymore. Shaw meets his steady gaze and Luke can see something soften in his eyes, he sighs 

“The girl was right” he spins around in the chair to nod through the glass wall over to Ramsay “When she said that anything that can be hacked is Cipher’s to play with” he turns back to the papers, fingers smoothing out the edges he crinkled with his tight grip 

“But it’s not just hacking, anything she gets her hands on is hers to manipulate, she’s worse than this file”

“You said she got your brother, kinda seems like she got you too” 

“She came to me first” he admits quietly, tossing the file back onto the table, crossing his arms over his chest “I said no. I don’t work with people like Cipher, that kind of power hungry with big world ending ideas. She told me it was a mistake, I told her pushing me was the mistake and she walked away” he slumps forward, running a hand over his face 

“Then she went after my brother. Owen made a lot of stupid mistakes but he was small time till Cipher, she made him do all her dirty work and then ruined his entire life; that’s how she got him” he pushes himself up from the chair, and walks over to look out the glass. There’s a beat of silence before he turns back to Luke, when they lock eyes again there’s a new soft sadness to his face that Luke’s never seen before, it loosens something in his chest “She got me by making sure I knew if I hadn’t have said no, she never would have touched him” _Oh._ Luke thinks, then, _Shit_

“Whatever she’s got on Toretto, it’s enough to cage him like this but that doesn’t mean you can’t get him out of it” it’s almost like encouragement, as close to Shaw telling him they can do this as he’ll ever get and something about it stokes at the hope in Luke’s chest. His watch beeps.

“You ready to take her down?”

“Thought you’d never ask”

-

They end up getting him on the ropes but Dom wouldn’t be Dom if it wasn’t a fight, if it didn’t shake all of them, no one beats Toretto when he’s behind the wheel, not even when it’s six against one.

Everything’s gone wrong, the plan’s been abandoned and it’s all improvising now and he wishes they had something more to fall back on, he’s never liked when missions move like this, it makes something ugly bubble up under his skin. Something like dread.

Roman’s car flips, so does Luke’s, he shoves his way out of the busted door in time to see Letty and Tej flip too. The force of the last pull brings Shaw and Dom crashing together and there’s a long moment watching the cars smoke before Dom re-emerges, sliding out of the wreck to grab the case now sitting on one of the only patches of road not covered in broken car parts. It’s a frantic burst of movement and Luke tenses for a second before he can clearly see Dom’s ok.

Not even a beat passes before Shaw’s jumping out of his car, running after him and Luke barely thinks before he pulls himself up and sprints to follow them both.

He has no idea what Shaw’s thinking, if he’s even actually thought this out at all, all he knows is that he wants to be backup here, needs to be. They’re firmly in act first plan later territory, and Shaw’s up and still fighting, Luke too, just a couple seconds behind.

He rounds the corner to Dom with his gun trained on Shaw.

“What are you waiting for Toretto?” he asks and Luke takes a step forward right as two shots ring out, loud even in the busy street, he watches them make direct hits. Shaw crumples. 

“No!” he yells, voice cracking around the word, Dom stands there a moment longer, gun still raised, and Luke feels a sudden overwhelming anger at him. At Shaw. What kind of moron gives chase without a gun, without a plan.

Dom’s moving now, back off down the alley and Luke can hear the sirens closing in. He takes one last look at Shaw’s body on the ground and runs. Number six on Interpols top ten most wanted list can’t stick around this big of a crime scene. 

Shaw’s already gone but somehow it still feels like he’s abandoning him.

-

They make it back to the Toy Shop, an exhaustion weighing their every move, a mix between the fight and the fact that the fight was against Dom.

Little Nobody collapses on the ground next to him, phone loosely clutched in his hand, entire face pulled down in a frown

“Anything?” 

“They’re gone” he says, rubbing a hand down his face “They’ve got an EMP and nuclear launch codes, I don’t know what it is, but they’re building towards something”

“And Deckard?” it comes out fine, mostly, and it’s almost unnoticeable but Luke feels enough of a pause from Little-Nobody that he can tell, despite their jokes, that this guy’s got enough instinct to be a fine agent 

“He didn’t make it” he says softly, the way you do when you have to break bad news you don’t know how people are going to take. To their credit everyone seems sorry to hear it, a moment of solemn silence lingers before Luke is up and punching a metal door so hard it dents, the pain rushes up his arm and he storms off before he can beat the thing till it gives completely.

He’s gonna kill Cipher. He feels rage at Dom even though he knows, knows like the rest of the crew, that she’s manipulating him; so he’s trying to redirect it. _‘She’s not someone you mess with if you can help it’_ Deckard said. But neither is Luke, neither is the crew.

He ends up pacing his way to where Deckard was fixing his car that morning, it seems impossibly long ago for how little time has actually passed. The discarded papers still folded on the work bench, he gently picks them up, his eyes flicking over the picture of Deckard in his uniform.

It takes him till after he’s reread the whole thing to get it. A set up. Just like the EMP- _the same kind of funny math._

The rightness of it rings true in Luke’s mind in correlation to the information he has, Captain Deckard Shaw taking the fall for something he didn’t do, a decision for the right reason. He feels like he’s just gotten a new bag of puzzle pieces, the bigger picture finally forming in front of him and Deckard's not even around to talk to.

Honestly he just wants answers, he wants to be able to fit Deckard’s death into the full picture, so he can understand, so he can untangle it all. 

-

They keep moving because of course they do, what are they gonna stop trying to save the world, stop trying to get Dom back for this? they’re not even supposed to be friends. It’s not meant to hurt so much. He can feel Letty's eyes on him but he doesn't meet them, isn't sure of what she'd be able to read given the chance, but he knows she knows something's up, she always does.

-

The anger helps, every hit takes them down, heads crack against metal, cement, bodies thrown across the room. It’s freezing and he’s separated from most of the team but there’s a new plan and it’s stupid but it’s not terrible.

-

It’s stupid and it’s terrible and it’s _not working_ , they’re skidding on ice and being chased by more military than they’re going to be able to get around, they managed to stop the missle launch but the submarine has to be cut off before it reaches open water and there’s just not enough time with all these trucks on their tail. The weapons they have locked onto them. They need something else, some sort of push from behind.

Dom’s car comes flying by, crashing into the side of the launch truck, sending the torpedos straight into the cars following them and man it’s so _completely_ Dom, nothing but dramatics, explosions heating the frozen air. Luke woops loudly, Roman laughs next to him.

-

It’s almost calm out on the ice in the newly formed quiet, Dom pushing himself up from where he’d been huddled between all their cars. Letty throws herself into his arms, clinging like she’ll never let him go. Dom holds back just as tight.

"Oh Toretto” Tej says leaning back against his tank “You've got some explaining to do" Dom laughs into Letty’s shoulder, pulling back just enough to look around at all of them

"Let's go home"

-

Dom tells them the whole story stretched out on the lounges on the roof, Letty clutching his hand as he speaks, the look on her face promising that if Cipher ever crosses their paths again she won’t be making it out alive this time. Luke seconds that feeling.

“But what about your son?” she asks brow furrowing in concern “If she had him-”

“I had a friend pick him up for me” he says

The elevator dings and they all turn to watch Deckard walk into the room. The absolute son of a bitch is _alive_ and Luke is so relieved he forgets to be angry. 

He’s holding onto a baby carrier and Luke can see a soft look on his face as he looks into it. 

The second shoe firmly hits the hardwood.

“Package for you Toretto” he says holding out the carrier, Dom happily takes it, setting it on the table and pulling the baby out into his arms. He sits back next to Letty, the team crowding around to meet the little guy and Luke watches Deckard step out of the way.

He lingers around the edges of the group not unlike the way he did at the beginning of all this, back to a wall, hands in his pocket. Though this time the undercurrent of anticipation Luke feels seems less like it’s leading to a fight and more like it’s leading- _somewhere_. Deckard turns and meets his gaze, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth, 

“Agent Hobbs” he nods in acknowledgement as Luke moves around the chatter to stand right next to him

“Captain Shaw” he greets, trying not to give away how happy he is to see him “Glad you’re not dead” Deckard’s smirk pulls up into a smile

“Thanks” he says “You too” Luke huffs a laugh, eyeing him for another moment like he wants to make sure he’s really there, still breathing, before motioning over to the barbeque area 

“Beer?” he asks, Deckard nods, following him over.

It’s nice, this tentative easiness flowing between them, as they lean back on the railing, bottles tucked into palms, watching the conversations unfold across from them. It’s more normal than it probably should be but he’s not about to start complaining.

“Cipher got away” Deckard says, breaking the silence between them, Luke hums, taking a swing of his beer 

“She won’t next time” 

“Next time huh?”

“Oh you think you got out of working with us again just cause you took some rubber bullets to the chest?” Deckard laughs, Luke warms at the sound of it “Nah, you’re kinda stuck now man”

“Eh well, company could be worse” he says nudging Luke's arm

“Yeah” Luke agrees, nudging him back “Could be”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> literally have had this in my head since i saw fast 8 for the first time, can't believe how long it takes me to get around to writing lmao


End file.
